France Day 5 - Lyon

Saturday

Breakfast was from 7 to 8:30 am. It's the only "rolling" meal. To the other meals you are supposed to be punktual when they start. All meals are very nice. We had a bit of a late start and when we were back at the room we heard the alarm we had forgotten about. We had been told that there would be the mandatory safety drill this morning. We had our lifevest on in no time and were soon on deck. The whole thing didn't take long.

And then our two groups were assembling outside the ship for our tours.

Assembly is always at the "Flower Tree" statue.

There are one trip metro tickets (which one can buy in bundels of 10) or all day tickets. Sophie gives us what we need.

It is busy in front of the Lyon Cathedral. There was some kind of an artist's market. All the stands had handmade ceramics. At least one we past was from Spain.

The Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon is impressive. There is plenty of info in the link about this building which was finished in 1476. 

Unfortunately the light was such that the photos do not show the beautiful colors of the windows.

The above link has info about the two organs ...

... and the astronomical clock.

Outside we couldn't miss seeing the Camino trail sign. 

A major highlight of this walking tour were the secret passages in Lyon. These labyrinths of the silk workers are called "traboules" and they were very fascinating. 

We went through 2 traboules but you can find a lot more information on the internet.

This is a mechanical clock with the puppet figure Guignol moving but we were not at the right time. 

What about this photo? Do do see the red dot in one of the upper windows? That is so the fire brigate knows in case of a fire which window to brake first.

And what is this contraption? Sophia explained that this hopes to prevent man from peeing in the corner. It seems to be a problem in France. This would make their feet wet.

At this "boulangerie" (bakery)  Sophie bought something very special for us to try: Brioche aux pralines rouges. It is quite sweet and nice. After we ate she told us that the pink coloring is the natural dye of cochineal (bugs). 

The heart of Lyon is on a peninsula between the Rhone and the Soane rivers. We walked over one of the bridges...

... and there was a Saturday market going on. Sophie challenged us to buy something we didn't know. We went with another couple to find something.

We ended up getting 5 Euros worth of these "cheese buttons"(bouton de culotte ?) - Sophie said: good choice.

And for 1.50 Euro we bought "herbe à chat" for her cat (catnip). 

After dinner we enjoyed a recital by local piano artist Cynthia Caubisens.

And then it was time to go night, night. It was already rather late. But what a great day it has been.      Thank the Lord!